What To Do When You Cannot Make a Decision? Try The Revolving Door Test.

Source: Bau Porte

In his book, “Only the Paranoid Survive”, Andy Grove (former Chairman and CEO of Intel) described how he and Gordon Moore (Founder, former CEO and Chairman of Intel)made the crucial decision to get out of the memory business.

I looked out the window at the Ferris wheel of the Great America amusement park revolving in the distance, then I turned back to Gordon and I asked, “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what do you think he would do?” Gordon answered without hesitation, “He would get us out of memories.” I stared at him, then said, “Why shouldn’t you and I walk out the door, come back and do it ourselves?”

This is what Chip Heath (Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business) called the “Revolving Door Test”. Changing perspective from an insider to an outsider helped Andy and Gordon see the big picture clearly. And this is also a good example of how not to let your emotions make your decisions. Most of us probably won’t have to make a dramatic decision like the one Gordon and Andy did. But we can still learn from Andy on the art of making business decision. Read More...